WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. submarine's deadly attack on an Iranian warship does not appear to have violated international or American military law, though it's not yet clear whether the sub took sufficient measures to rescue nearly three dozen survivors, legal experts said.
Legal questions are swirling about the underpinnings for the entire U.S.-Israeli military operation against Iran, and the aftermath of the torpedo attack on the IRIS Dena in the Indian Ocean, the experts said.
At least 87 people died and 32 Iranian sailors were rescued after the sub torpedoed the Dena in international waters near Sri Lanka.
While the attacks on Iran overall are “a clear violation of the UN charter,” the Dena was “a clear military target,” said Marko Milanovic, professor of international law at the University of Reading in Britain.
"Targeting a military vessel is not a war crime,” Milanovic said.
The vessel had just participated in naval exercises hosted by India and was heading into international waters on its way home, the Indian government said.
But neither its location far from the war zone nor its presence for the joint naval exercises affects the legality of the strike, said Rachel VanLandingham, a professor at Southwestern Law School and a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force who served as a judge advocate general.
“It doesn’t matter that it wasn’t firing at the time," she said of the Iranian ship. "It matters that it can be used to fire at American military assets.”
But what transpired after the torpedo struck the ship could raise concerns.
“The attack may not violate the law of war, but that’s only the start of the analysis,” said Brian Finucane, who served in the State Department's Office of the Legal Adviser for a decade. “What happens after the attack is another matter.”
International humanitarian law says the U.S. should have taken “all possible measures” to help search for and collect anyone who was wounded or shipwrecked.
U.S. naval forces have the same obligation under the Pentagon's rules as laid out in the Defense Department Law of War Manual. But the manual notes that “practical limitations,” including the cramped quarters of a submarine, could require it to alert other ships, airplanes or nearby authorities of the location of possible survivors.
Bringing people inside a submarine -- one of the most closely guarded platforms in the U.S. Navy -- also poses issues.
A U.S. official confirmed that following the strike, the United States contacted Sri Lankan authorities to provide them with the ship’s location for search and rescue efforts. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss matters that were not authorized for release.
Sri Lanka's foreign minister, Vijitha Herath, told Parliament that Sri Lanka's navy received a distress signal from the stricken ship, and sent ships and planes on a rescue mission.
But by the time Sri Lanka’s navy reached the location, there was no sign of the ship, “only some oil patches and life rafts,” navy spokesman Commander Buddhika Sampath said. “We found people floating on the water.”
Finucane said that without more information, “it’s hard to evaluate whether there were possible measures they could have taken. But at a minimum, they should be explaining this.”
Eugene R. Fidell, who teaches military law at Yale Law School, said it “may be a long time before we have a full account of who did what and when in the aftermath of the attack. If as it appears, they alerted the coastal authorities, they did right to do so.”
But even then, difficult questions remain, Fidell said, principally whether rescuers were close enough to the scene. “So until we get more clarity, granular clarity, I think it’s premature to make any judgments,” he said. “I’m being circumspect, but I think It’s important to be circumspect.”
Quell reported from The Hague.
Two Iranian sailors, center, who were rescued from IRIS Dena warship by Sri Lanka's navy are escorted to a Judicial Medical Officer from the National Hospital, in Galle, Sri Lanka, Thursday, March 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
Two Iranian sailors, carrying green bags, who were rescued from IRIS Dena warship by Sri Lanka's navy are escorted to a Judicial Medical Officer from the National Hospital, in Galle, Sri Lanka, Thursday, March 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Southern Poverty Law Center was indicted Tuesday on federal fraud charges alleging it improperly raised millions of dollars to pay informants to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan and other extremist groups, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said.
The civil rights group faces charges including wire fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering in the case brought by the Justice Department in Alabama, where the organization is based.
The indictment came shortly after SPLC revealed the existence of a criminal investigation into its program to pay informants to infiltrate extremist groups and gather information on their activities. The group said the program was used to monitor threats of violence and the information was often shared with local and federal law enforcement.
SPLC CEO Bryan Fair said the organization “will vigorously defend ourselves, our staff, and our work.”
Blanche said the SPLC paid at least $3 million between 2014 and 2023 to people affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan, the United Klans of America, the National Socialist Party of America and other extremist groups.
“The SPLC was not dismantling these groups. It was instead manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose by paying sources to stoke racial hatred,” Blanche said.
He said the SPLC never disclosed to donors details about its informant program. “They’re required to under the laws associated with a nonprofit to have certain transparency and honesty in what they’re telling donors they’re going to spend money on and what their mission statement is and what they’re raising money doing,” he said.
Blanche said the money was passed from the center through two different bank accounts before being loaded onto prepaid cards to give to the members of the extremist groups, which also included the National Socialist Movement and the Aryan Nations-affiliated Sadistic Souls Motorcycle Club.
The SPLC's Fair said the program was kept quiet to protect the safety of informants.
“When we began working with informants, we were living in the shadow of the height of the Civil Rights Movement, which had seen bombings at churches, state-sponsored violence against demonstrators, and the murders of activists that went unanswered by the justice system,” Fair said. “There is no question that what we learned from informants saved lives.”
The SPLC, which is based in Montgomery, Alabama, was founded in 1971 and used civil litigation to fight white supremacist groups. The nonprofit has become a popular target among Republicans who see it as overly leftist and partisan.
The investigation could add to concerns that Trump's Republican administration is using the Justice Department to go after conservative opponents and his critics. It follows a number of other investigations into Trump foes that have raised questions about whether the law enforcement agency has been turned into a political weapon.
The SPLC has faced intense criticism from conservatives, who have accused it of unfairly maligning right-wing organizations as extremist groups because of their viewpoints. The center regularly condemns Trump’s rhetoric and policies around voting rights, immigration and other issues.
The center came under fresh scrutiny after the assassination last year of conservative activist Charlie Kirk brought renewed attention to its characterization of the group that Kirk founded and led. The center included a section on that group, Turning Point USA, in a report titled “The Year in Hate and Extremism 2024” that described the group as “A Case Study of the Hard Right in 2024.”
FBI Director Kash Patel said last year that the agency was severing its relationship with the center, which had long provided law enforcement with research on hate crime and domestic extremism. Patel said the center had been turned into a “partisan smear machine,” and he accused it of defaming “mainstream Americans” with its “hate map” that documents alleged anti-government and hate groups inside the United States.
House Republicans hosted a hearing centered on the SPLC in December, saying it coordinated efforts with President Joe Biden's Democratic administration "to target Christian and conservative Americans and deprive them of their constitutional rights to free speech and free association.”
FBI Director Kash Patel speaks during a news conference at the Justice Department, Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks as FBI Director Kash Patel listens during a news conference at the Justice Department, Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks as FBI Director Kash Patel listens during a news conference at the Justice Department, Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
FILE - Tourists walk past a banner with President Donald Trump hanging on the Department of Justice, Feb. 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File)
